Area of Specialization/Research:
1) Indian women in the reformist, nationalist and contemporary perspectives; socio-cultural and religious aspects of women's lives in colonial India and post colonial India; women agenda and the nation; autobiographies of women and narratives of the personal and the political domains; politics of representations of gender relations in colonial India; dalit women and history; history of interconnections between Indian women history and English/ Irish women.
2) Intellectual history of India (with special reference to 19th century).
Recent project: Writing a biography of an Irish lady, Margaret Cousins (1878-1954).
Qualification:
Ph.D:2011: ‘Hindu Widows in the United Provinces of Agra and Awadh (1856--1956)’ under Supervision of Prof. Bhagwan S. Josh, Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, JNU. (2011)
M.Phil : ‘Aspects of the Widowhood Question in Colonial and Post-Colonial India’ under supervision of Prof. Tanika Sarkar, JNU. (2001)
M.A (Modern Indian History): Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, JNU. (1999)
B.A History (Hons): Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi, New Delhi. (1997)
Courses Taught:
MA and MPhil lecture Course on ‘Women in Colonial India’ (4 credits)
MA and MPhil lecture Course on ‘History of Ideas in Colonial India’ (4 credits)
MA and MPhil Seminar course on ‘Problems of Intellectual History’ (4 credits)
Awards/Grants:
Visiting Researcher, Department of Study of Religions, School of Asian Studies, University College Cork, Ireland.(1st July to 20th July 2012)
The Long Room Hub Visiting Fellow, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. (1st May to 30 June 2012)
Visiting Professor at the History Department, Basel University, Basel, Switzerland. ( 2nd May to 5th June 2011)
Visiting Research Associate at the School of History and Anthropology, Queens University Belfast, Northern Ireland. (1st -15th February 2011)
Visiting Researcher at Centre for Gender Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. ( 4th -- 30th September 2010)
Charles Wallace Trust (UK) research grant for -2011, (for travel to conduct research in the United Kingdom).
Guest Scholar, Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy , School of Culture, Education and Human Development, New York University, United States of America. (28th April- 3rd May 2010).
Grant from Departmental Special Assistance Programme of Centre for Historical Studies and School of Social Sciences, JNU, for my project on 'Women's Inheritance and Property Rights in Colonial North India' and 'The National Museum in Afghanistan'. (2007-8).
Indian Council for Historical Research MPhil research grant. (1999-2001)
International Collaboration:
Collaboration with the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies, Dublin City University, Ireland on MA in Sexuality Studies.
Membership of the Feminist and Women's Studies Association, (UK & Ireland) since 2009.
Publications:
International:
'Entangled Histories and the Right to Education: African, Indian and Swiss Women's Experiences and Struggles', in Susan Imholf and Guy Thomas (eds), Africa and Switzerland: Women in Processes of Religious and Secular Transformation : A Reader, Centre for African Studies and Mission 21, Basel, 2012.
Articles in Journal (Indian):
‘Revisiting Premchand: Shivrani Devi on Companionship, Reformism and Nation’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 42, No 18, 2007, pp1631-1637.
Articles in Books(Indian):
‘Paradhin Bharat mein Vidhwa ki Dasha’ (The Status of Widows in Colonial India), in Deepak Kumar and Devender Choubey (eds), Hashiye ka Vrataant: Stri, Dalit aur Adivasi Samaj ka Vaikalpik Itihas (A View from the Margins: A History of Women, Dalit and Tribal Societies), Aadhar Prakahan, Haryana, 2011. (In Hindi)
‘A Cross-Cultural Trajectory of Responses to Colonialism: The Gender Question in Colonial India and Korea’, in Vyjanti Raghavan (ed) India and Korea through the Ages: Historical, Religious and Cultural Perspectives, Manak Publications, New Delhi, 2009.
‘Hindu Vidhwa ka Prashn: Sudharvad se Rashtravad’ (The Widowhood Question: From Reformism to Nationalism’), in Devendra Choubey (ed) Sahitya ka Naya Soundarya Shastra, (A New Aesthetics of Literature) Kitabghar Publications, New Delhi, 2006. (In Hindi)
Miscellaneous Publications
1) ‘Women’s Reform in Afghanistan: Western and the Indigenous Responses’, Afghanistan Times, Kabul, 19th June, 2008, p2-3.
2) ‘Conceptualizing A Nation: The Afghan National Museum’, Daily Outlook Afghanistan, Kabul, 1st June, 2008, p5.
Book Reviews
Reviewed Suparna Gooptu’s Cornelia Sorabji: India’s Pioneer Woman Lawyer, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2006, in Studies in History, 25, 1, 2009, pp145-150.
Reviewed Ranjana Harish and V. Bharati(ed) Re-defining Feminisms, Rawat Publications, Jaipur, 2008 in Economic and Political Weekly, 6 December 2008, p43-45
Reviewed Badri Narayan's Women Heroes and Dalit Assertion in North India: Culture, Identity and Politics, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2006, in Studies in History, 23,2, 2007,pp341-365
Recent Workshops:
Organized an international workshop on 'Women in India and Ireland: Engendering the Historical Experiences', at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute for Advanced Studies, JNU, September 7, 2012.
Participated in a workshop on 'Feminist Activism in Ireland: Past, Present and Future,' Irish Feminist Network, Dublin, Ireland, 19th May 2012.
Participated in a workshop on 'Get Involved Beyond the Vote', organized by the Houses of Parliament Outreach Service, the European Parliament Outreach Service, and National Alliance of Women's Organizations at Portcullis House, Houses of Parliament, London, UK, February 18, 2011.
Organized a one day workshop on 'Gender Relations in Indian Cinema' at the Academic Staff College, University Grants Commission, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, March 8, 2010. (Presented a paper titled 'Representations of Widowhood in Indian Cinema', at this workshop).
Recent Invited Presentations:
Presented a paper on ''Margaret Cousins: The Irish Feminist in Colonial India'', at a conference on '1912: Irish Women before the Revolution' organized by Women's History Association of Ireland -Annual Conference, , Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin City University, Ireland, 25-26 May 2012.
Presented a paper on ‘Entangled Histories and the Right to Education: African, Indian and Swiss Women’s Experiences and Struggles’, at a Conference on Africa and Switzerland: Women in Process of Religious and Secular Transformation, organized by Centre for African Studies Basel and Mission 21 at Basel, Switzerland, October 14-16, 2011.
Presented a paper on ‘‘The Widow as ‘Mother India’: Notions of Honour and Chastity in Colonial India’, at a conference on Geschlechtergeschichte Global (on Gender History as Global History) organized by Historisches Seminar, Basel, Switzerland, May 21, 2011.
Seminar presentation on ‘The Widow and the Nation: Gandhian – Nehruvian visions of Bharat Mata or ‘Mother India’, Department of History, Dhaka University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 12, 2011.
Seminar presentation on ‘Aspects of Caste, Land and Widowhood in colonial North India’ at Research Seminar Series, Department of History, King’s College London, UK., Feb 24, 2011.
Presentation on ‘Widows in Contemporary India: Single and Sacred’, at Department of Politics and History, School of Social Sciences, Brunel University, West London, UK, Feb 23, 2011.
Seminar presentation on '"Foul unhallowed fires": the burning of Hindu widows (Sati) in 19th-century India and the British public' at a seminar on ‘Burning Women/Mourning Women’, organized by The International Research Forum on Women, Queens University Belfast, Northern Ireland, February 7, 2011.
Paper presentation on ‘A Hindu Widow's Narrative of the Body: Priyamvada Devi’, at ‘’Writing South Asia’’ organized by Copenhagen South Asia Workshop, Centre of Global South Asian Studies and Asian Dynamics Initiative, University of Copenhagen, at Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 28, 2010.
Seminar presentation on ‘Widowhood, autobiographical self and literary consciousness in Colonial India’ at Centre for Gender Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, September 23, 2010.
Paper presentation on ‘The Making of a ‘Colonial’ Hindu Widow: Contentious Body and the Text’ at Conference on ‘Narratives of Health and Illness’ organized by The Nordic Network on Gender, Body, Health in collaboration with Centre for Gender Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, September 16-17, 2010.
Presented a seminar on ‘Gender and Affirmative Action in Higher Education in India’, hosted by Commission on Gender, Race and Social Justice in collaboration with
TheSteinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy, New York University, New York, United States Of America, April 28, 2010.
Presented a seminar on “Afghan Women from Suffering to Reform” at a Conference on ‘Afghan Women: As Seen From First Hand Experiences’, organized by The Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown Washington University, Washington, United States Of America, April 23, 2010.
Presented a paper on ‘Representation of Iconic Hindu Widowhood and the Cinematic ImagiNation’, at a panel on ‘History, National Identity and Representation’, at the European Social Science History Conference organized by The International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam), Ghent, Belgium, April 13 to 16, 2010.
Lectures delivered outside JNU:
‘Experiences of Widowhood in Uttar Pradesh: As Sati, As Vidhwa and As ‘Mother India’’ at Ginnidevi Girls PG College, Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh, 28th March 2011.
Delivered a lecture at Gargi College, University of Delhi on “Gender, Nationalism and Domesticity in Colonial India". This lecture was part of a series of lectures conducted for a Delhi University course on 'Women in Indian History and Contemporary World', 12th December 2008.
‘Education as Reconstruction: Perspectives on Teaching of History in India and Afghanistan’ at Kabul Education University, 20th May 2007.
‘Recent Trends in History Writing’ at the History Department, Faculty of Social Sciences, Kabul University, 6th June 2007.
‘Economic Relations between India and Afghanistan’ at the Economics Department, Kabul University, 28th May 2007.
‘The Role of State in India: Democracy and Social Justice’ at the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission, Kabul, 5th June 2007
Delivered lectures in the Sociology Department, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and at the History Department, Banaras Hindu University, Benaras, between the years 2004-2008
Additional Experience/Qualification :
2011: Completed a University Grants Commission (UGC) training on 'Capacity Building of Women Managers in Higher Education: Sentivity/Awareness/Motivation' organized at GinniDevi Modi Girls PG College Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh, October 31-November 4, 2011.
2010: External member of the Question paper committee for Senior Secondary School Teacher’s Recruitment Examination, Uttar Pradesh (State Government).
2007: External member of the Question paper committee of the All India Entrance Exam for admission to Bachelor of Arts degree programme of Jamia Millia University, New Delhi.
2008-2010: Member of the Board of Studies, Academic Council of JNU.
2006: Completed University Grants Commission sponsored training course in History for University teachers.
2007: Completed University Grants Commission sponsored training course in ‘Orientation’ to other disciplines for University teachers.
2004-2006: Led the University teams to conduct All India JNU Entrance Examination in Srinagar (2004), Imphal (2005) and Goa (2006).
2004 till date: Have been performing duties of a Warden of a JNU student residence (under the direct administration of the Dean of Students’ Welfare Office).
1999: Passed the University Grants Commission’s National Eligibility Test (to teach at the higher education level) ; Completed two courses in French language one from Delhi University, other from Institut Francais, Tel Aviv, Israel.
|